A synopsis of the CES show 2014

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that opened today in Las Vegas, Nevada, there were announcements of new products from imaging product manufacturers. Nikon announced their new flagship camera, the D4S and a new entry-level, light and compact SLR, the D3300. The latter is of limited importance for underwater imaging as it only compatible with AF-S and AF-I lenses, and these do not currently provide suitable options for use underwater. It is interesting to note that, in common with some of Nikon’s more advanced models, it has no anti aliasing filter.

The D4S is being soft launched at the show, and specifications are not final, but the accompanying press release says that it “will offer advances over the Nikon D4 HD-SLR camera, including enhanced image quality enabled with adoption of a new image-processing engine. The new HD-SLR will also feature more advanced autofocusing performance.” Interestingly, the prototype displayed at the show seems to suggest that control placement will be the same as that of the D4, which suggests that there may be some housing compatibility between the two versions.

Elsewhere at the show, Panasonic has a prototype of the GH 4K camera that has been widely rumored. The specs (currently still rumored too) include Time code, 200mbps mp4/All-i 100mbps, 4K recording at 30P, 4:2:2 output at 10/8 bits and adaptors for SDI and XLR outputs.

Sony is offering a new Action Cam, which offers HD XAVC S capture at 50Mpps. It is “splash-proof” although the company will offer the SPK-AS2 waterproof housing as an option. Sony has also released the AX100 4K Handycam, which provides 4K recording in a compact and light-weight package. Lastly, Sony has announced the A5000 mirrorless camera.

Lexar has announced new Compact Flash cards that utilize the CFast 2.0 SATA format to give a maximum write speed of 500MB/s. The cards will be available in capacities from 32 to 256GB. It should be noted however that CFast 2.0 is not yet supported in an cameras and is not backwards compatible.